THE PRESERVATION OF OUR FAUNA 205 



the extinction as breeding species of the bittern, ruff, 

 black-tailed godwit, great bustard, Savi's warbler, and 

 crane. Yet the bittern, after long absence, is nesting 

 once more in the marshes, where it derives protection, 

 private protection be it remembered, and the ruff, too, has 

 returned; there are many suitable places still remaining 

 where these birds might nest if allowed. What has 

 happened with another marsh species, the black-headed 

 gull ? Driven from place to place by the drainage of 

 one after another of its haunts, it has still found sites to 

 colonise and wherein to increase. True, there may be 

 factors which explain the increase of one species and the 

 decrease of another which have no connection with the 

 influence, at any rate direct, of man ; we can, for instance, 

 explain the increase and spread of the great crested grebe, 

 at one time nearly swept away by the demand for its soft 

 breast plumage protection gave it the start it needed. 

 But it is hard to imagine that the same factor operated 

 in the case of the turtle-dove. A change of habit and of 

 breeding range may have influenced the godwit and black 

 tern. It is, however, certain that immediately these 

 and other species were seen to be rare their commercial 

 value rose, and they were hunted out of the country by 

 the collector. When Seebohm pointed out that the 

 St. Kilda wren differed from the mainland form it was an 

 evil day for the little islander; one prominent bird pro- 

 tector, now no more, did his utmost to help in extinction 

 of this subspecies. 



The Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain recently called attention in 

 The Times to the havoc of commercialism amongst the 

 eiders of Spitzbergen. The motor on the sailing sloop 

 is the engine of destruction, for it enables the egg and 

 down hunters to enter bays and inlets which were unsafe 

 before its introduction. One sloop, at the end of last 

 June, had on board " no fewer than 15,000 eggs." The 



